JP3807356B2 - Communication device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement in a communication device connected to a telephone line and a communication network other than the telephone line.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, communication devices connected to a telephone line and a communication network other than the telephone line (for example, the Internet) have become widespread. In the following patent document, such a communication device is disclosed, and image data can be transmitted by facsimile via a telephone line, and image data can be transmitted as an e-mail via the Internet.
[0003]
[Patent Literature]
JP-A-11-205522
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in such a communication device, when facsimile transmission and e-mail transmission are designated for the same read image data, each transmission management is performed separately, and encoding for transmission is performed respectively. Independent encoding / decoding means is used, resulting in an increase in software processing and the number of parts, which in turn increases costs.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances. When facsimile transmission and e-mail transmission are designated for the same image data that has been read, the transmission is centrally managed and the transmission code It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication apparatus that can perform software processing and reduce the number of parts by performing the encoding process with a single encoding / decoding means.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, in claim 1, a single encoding / decoding means for encoding / decoding image data and a facsimile number and an e-mail address are designated as a destination of the read image data. In this case, encoding of image data corresponding to each transmission destination is performed by a single encoding / decoding unit, and when an e-mail is received through a communication network, the e-mail is temporarily stored in a storage unit, and the stored electronic And a control means for encoding the mail by the encoding / decoding means and overwriting the storage means when the facsimile transmission or facsimile reception processing is not performed.
[0006]
In this case, when a facsimile number and an e-mail address are designated as the transmission destination of the read image data, the image data to be transmitted is set as the transmission destination regardless of whether the transmission destination is a facsimile number or an e-mail address. Accordingly, encoding for facsimile transmission and encoding for e-mail transmission are performed by a single encoding / decoding means, so that each transmission can be centrally managed, and software processing and the number of parts can be reduced. And cost can be reduced.
[0008]
Further, when an e-mail is received through the communication network, the e-mail is temporarily stored in the storage means, and the stored e-mail is encoded by the encoding / decoding means when not being subjected to facsimile transmission or facsimile reception processing, Since it is overwritten and stored in the storage means, the encoding process of the received e-mail can be performed without competing with the encoding process of the facsimile communication, and the print-out of the encoded e-mail can be performed with the image data received by the facsimile. The same can be done.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a communication apparatus according to the present invention. Here, the configuration of a facsimile apparatus is shown as a communication apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any apparatus that can be connected to a communication network other than a telephone line and a telephone line may be used.
[0010]
The facsimile apparatus F is composed of a CPU or the like, and includes a main control unit 1 that controls the facsimile apparatus F, an NCU 2 that controls connection to the telephone line L, a modem 3 that modulates and demodulates signals necessary for facsimile communication, An image memory 4 for storing image data, a RAM 5 for storing speed dials, a ROM 6 for storing various programs necessary for the operation of the facsimile apparatus F, a display unit 7 including a liquid crystal screen, and the like An operation unit 8 composed of various operation keys, a reading unit 9 for reading image data from a set original, a recording unit 10 for printing out image data, a LAN interface 11 for connecting to a LAN, A codec 12 for encoding and decoding image data.
[0011]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a usage mode of the communication apparatus of the present invention. Here, the facsimile apparatus F is connected to the public line network through the telephone line L, and is connected to the Internet N2 and the client C through the LAN (N1).
[0012]
According to such a configuration, the facsimile apparatus F can perform facsimile transmission / reception through the telephone line L. Also, electronic mail can be sent and received through the Internet N2. Furthermore, image data can be transmitted to and received from the client C.
[0013]
The present invention can perform the following characteristic operations in addition to such basic operations. This will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0014]
3 and 4 show the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the document reading process.
[0015]
That is, a document is set in the reading unit 9, and a facsimile number and an e-mail address are instructed as a transmission destination (100). When a transmission instruction is given (101), the main control unit 1 sends a transmission command for each transmission destination. And stores the command in association with the transmission destination (102).
[0016]
The main control unit 1 causes the reading unit 9 to read the original set on the reading unit 9, encodes it with the codec 12, and performs processing for storing all the pages in the image memory 4 (103, 104).
[0017]
After the read image data is stored in the image memory 4 in this way, the transmission process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is performed. That is, the main control unit 1 performs transmission processing based on the stored transmission command (200), and stores a facsimile number as a corresponding transmission destination (201), dials the number (202), The image data in the image memory 4 is transmitted while being read page by page (204). If necessary, the image data read from the image memory 4 is subjected to decoding and re-encoding processing in accordance with the capability of the counterpart facsimile machine (203). Here, as a re-encoding processing method, there are methods such as MR, MMR, and JBIG.
[0018]
When the transmission of all pages is completed (205), the process returns to step 201 and the transmission process to the next transmission destination is repeated until the transmission to all transmission destinations is completed (206).
[0019]
On the other hand, if an e-mail address is stored as the destination in step 201, image conversion is performed while reading the image data in the image memory 4 for each page (208, 209). If necessary, the image data read out from the image memory 4 is decoded and re-encoded in accordance with the capability of the counterpart facsimile machine (207). Here, as a re-encoding processing method, there are methods such as MR, MMR, and JBIG.
[0020]
When the image conversion of all pages is completed (209), the image data is transmitted to the designated e-mail address (210, 211).
[0021]
5 and 6 show the operation of the second present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the e-mail receiving process. That is, the main control unit 1 periodically accesses the Internet provider, and if there is an e-mail addressed to itself, downloads the e-mail and stores it in the image memory 4 (300 to 303, 307).
[0022]
When reception of all pages is completed, when facsimile communication is not performed, that is, when the codec 12 is not used, the mail is read, image conversion and encoding processing of all pages are performed, and the image is again displayed. Store in the memory 4 (304 to 306). When an e-mail that has undergone image conversion and encoding processing is stored in the image memory 4 again, the original e-mail before processing is deleted from the image memory 4.
[0023]
The e-mail that has been subjected to image conversion and encoding processing in this way is subjected to printout processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, it is determined whether or not the e-mail in the image memory 4 has been subjected to the above-described image conversion and encoding processing (400 to 402), and if so, the recording unit 10 prints out the e-mail (see FIG. 403, 404).
[0024]
3 to 6, there are terms such as I-FAX and ISP. I-FAX is an abbreviation for Internet facsimile, which is transmitted by connecting to the Internet and attaching an image to an e-mail, or the like. A facsimile having a function of receiving an e-mail of the image.
[0025]
ISP is an abbreviation for an Internet service provider, and access to the ISP enables access to a mail server in the provider.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the communication apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, when a facsimile number and an e-mail address are designated as the transmission destination of the read image data, each transmission destination is a facsimile number or an electronic mail. Regardless of the address, the image data to be transmitted is encoded for facsimile transmission and encoding for e-mail transmission by a single encoding / decoding means according to the transmission destination. Can be centrally managed, and software processing and the number of parts can be reduced, thereby reducing costs.
[0027]
In addition, when an e-mail is received through the communication network, the e-mail is temporarily stored in the storage means, and the stored e-mail is encoded by the encoding / decoding means when the facsimile transmission or the facsimile reception processing is not performed, Since it is overwritten and stored in the storage means, the encoding process of the received e-mail can be performed without competing with the encoding process of the facsimile communication, and the print-out of the encoded e-mail can be performed with the image data received by the facsimile. The same can be done.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a communication apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of how the communication apparatus of the present invention is used. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing document reading processing of the first invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing document transmission processing according to the first aspect of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an e-mail receiving process according to the second aspect of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an e-mail printout process of the second invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
F: Facsimile device 1 ... Main control unit 12 ... Codec

Claims (1)

In a communication device connected to a telephone line and a communication network other than the telephone line,
A single encoding / decoding means for encoding / decoding image data;
When a facsimile number and an e-mail address are designated as the transmission destination of the read image data, the image data corresponding to each transmission destination is encoded by the single encoding / decoding means,
When an e-mail is received through the communication network, the e-mail is temporarily stored in the storage means, and the stored e-mail is encoded by the encoding / decoding means when the facsimile transmission or facsimile reception processing is not performed, A communication device comprising control means for overwriting and storing the storage means.

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